Filipina maid in grisly Singapore murder convicted

SINGAPORE (AFP) — A Filipina maid was convicted yesterday of culpable homicide not amounting to murder for the killing of a fellow domestic worker whose head and limbs were found in a smart Singapore shopping area.

Gwen Aguilar, 30, escaped the death penalty for killing and chopping up 27-year-old compatriot Jane La Puebla when her murder charge was reduced due to her mental state.

"In the circumstances, I convict you of the charge you face," said High Court Judge V.K. Rajah.

Sentencing was set for May 29. Aguilar faces possible life imprisonment or a jail term of up to 10 years.

But lead defense lawyer Shashi Nathan argued for a sentence of less than 10 years, citing Aguilar’s mental state at the time of the killing and her remorse during the seven months she has been in prison.

"We make our strongest submission to your honor that Guen certainly does not deserve a life sentence," Nathan told the judge.

"She knows that what she did was wrong and that there is no excuse for her misdeeds. However, she is genuinely remorseful for what she has done."

A letter from Roque Versoza, the mayor of Aguilar’s hometown Tagudin in Ilocos Sur, was also read in court.

The letter appealed on humanitarian grounds for Aguilar to be spared a long prison sentence. It said her two sons in the Philippines were unaware their mother is in prison and think she is still working as a maid.

Aguilar, wearing an orange prison suit, looked somber and tearful as the verdict was read out. Her husband, Edwin, and sister, Joy, were among those in the court along with Philippine embassy officials and the mayor.

She was arrested hours after the severed head and limbs of La Puebla were found in a sports bag in the upmarket Orchard Road area on Sept. 9. The victim’s torso was later discovered at a nature park.

Court documents showed that the two had an argument inside Aguilar’s room at her employers’ flat over 2,000 Singapore dollars ($1,274) she had lent the victim, part of which was borrowed from a loan shark.

It escalated into a fight during which Aguilar covered La Puebla’s face with a cushion until she became unconscious. She then strangled her and placed the body inside a luggage bag.

Two days later, on Sept. 9, she bought gloves, a chopper and an axe, cut the body into pieces and made two separate trips on a taxi to dispose of them. Her employers were out when the crime took place.

Consultant psychiatrist Tommy Tan told the court yesterday that Aguilar was suffering from "masked depression" which "substantially impaired her mental responsibility" at the time of the killing.

Tan also said there was a low risk of her reoffending.

In 1995 Filipina maid Flor Contemplacion was hanged for the murder of another Filipina maid, Delia Maga, and a Singaporean boy, straining ties which have since improved.

About 150,000 women, many of them from impoverished villages in the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, work as maids in Singapore.